Views of Vienna from above
From Reinhard Mandl*
Today, for once, I’m not the one exploring the country from Vienna by train or bus. I take on the unusual role of tour guide: together with a friend from Weitra, I hike up the Leopoldsberg and on to the Kahlenberg. We look down on Vienna and realize that it is not only St. Stephen’s Cathedral and the Giant Ferris Wheel that characterize the image of the capital, but also the diverse landscapes that come together in Vienna in a very small space.
Starting point
Bus stop (or train station) Vienna Nussdorf
Directions
From Gmünd train station:
02:01 – 2:12 with the REX 41
From Linz main station:
1:35 with the WB 909 and S 45
1:37 with RJX 61 and U6/U4
From Wiener Neustadt main station:
1:10 with REX 1/REX 3 and U4
My friend Toni regularly takes the Franz-Josefs-Bahn from the Waldviertel to Vienna. He has looked at the Leopoldsberg near the city border dozens of times and thought to himself: “I want to go up there one day!”
Today the time has finally come. We have met at Vienna Heiligenstadt station and take the 400 bus a few stops to Nussdorf. We first walk along the Danube promenade to Kahlenbergerdorf. The village has been part of Vienna since 1891, but has managed to retain its character as a wine-growing village largely unscathed.
An obelisk marks the starting point of the Nasenweg. From now on, the path climbs steeply! We stop again and again on the one and a half kilometer long panoramic path and look down through stunted downy oak branches to the Danube. This thermophilic tree species is rarely found in our latitudes. But here it thrives magnificently, as the “nose” benefits from the mild Pannonian climate due to its proximity to the Danube. Large parts of the Leopoldsberg lie in the particularly strictly protected core zones of the Vienna Woods Biosphere Reserve, where the “primeval forest of tomorrow” is to be created with as little human intervention as possible.
We climb up bend after bend and after half an hour’s walk we reach the “large viewing platform”. We look out over the vineyards on the Nussberg and across the Danube to the flat Marchfeld. That wavy line on the horizon? Those are the Little Carpathians! They are already in Slovakia.
After a short rest, we continue to the highest point of the Leopoldsberg. Originally there was a princely castle of the Babenberg dynasty here, probably from the 12th century. Despite its strategically favorable location, it soon fell into disrepair. Today’s castle on the Leopoldsberg was built at the same time as the church around 1720, after the entire area had been leveled with the rubble of the old castle.
We have seen the church on Leopoldsberg from afar, but now that we are standing right in front of it, we don’t get to see it. It is hidden behind massive stone walls in the inner courtyard of the castle complex.
As we walk along the outer wall, we look down to the west towards the Augustinian canons of Klosterneuburg Abbey, which also owns the castle on Leopoldsberg. Toni is fascinated by the view of the Danube Island and can hardly believe that this green strip is supposed to be 21 kilometers long. There is an intake structure at the northern point. Here, the inflow into the artificially created New Danube can be regulated in the event of flooding.
From the Leopoldsberg we walk parallel to the Höhenstraße to the Josefinenhütte, where we stop for lunch in the cozy garden.
When we leave the semi-darkness of the forest path after a good quarter of an hour’s walk from the Josefinenhütte, the first thing we see of the Kahlenberg is a huge bare asphalt surface. We leave it to the right and head purposefully towards the viewing terrace, past souvenir and snack stalls.
Wow! This view of Vienna makes up for the rather sober approach to this popular viewing hill. The city looks incredibly green from up here. And then there are the wooded Wienerwald mountains to the west! How impenetrable they appear from afar. Some landmarks stand out clearly from Vienna’s sea of buildings: the Wienerberg City, for example, or the bulky towers of the General Hospital. The Praterauen are also clearly visible and behind them the Pannonian expanses begin, a completely different landscape. The Donau-Auen National Park is also clearly visible from Kahlenberg. It is unbelievable how diverse the landscapes are that come together in the Vienna urban area in such a small space.
The first accommodation establishment on the Kahlenberg opened its doors back in 1874. The Kahlenbergbahn also began operating that year. This cog railroad ran between Nussdorf and the Kahlenberg until after the First World War. In the interwar period, the restaurant was rebuilt in connection with the construction of the Wiener Höhenstraße. The current appearance of the Kahlenberg dates back to 2003, when the long vacant and dilapidated building ensemble was partially replaced by new buildings.
On the way back to the parking lot, we take a look inside St. Joseph’s Church. A plaque on the outer wall commemorates the visit to Vienna by the Polish Pope John Paul II in September 1983 – exactly 300 years after the liberation of Vienna from the Turks. The origins of the church go back to the founding of a monastery in the 17th century, when Ferdinand II established a hermitage for Camaldolese monks on the Kahlenberg, which was still called “Sauberg” at the time. The small village of Josefsdorf developed around the former monastery cells.
In the early afternoon, we take the bus down to Heiligenstadt station and then the U4 underground line to Schottenring. Before Toni starts the journey home to the Waldviertel at Franz-Josefs-Bahnhof, there is still time for coffee and cake.
* This text is an abridged version of chapter 12 of his book Discover Austria with the KlimaTicket – 20 Trips by Bus and Rail
